Question Any idea of year I’m thinking mid 70s. AMF took over Voit I believe look simple to duckfeet?

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OP
Pacediver

Pacediver

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I just don't log dives
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Info?
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The Mark IX fins were around in the 70's. I do not know exact years.

The first catalog (AMF Voit Swimaster) that shows the Mark IX fins is in 1971. They were still shown in the 1979 catalog. That is the last catalog copy I have.

You can download copies of all these catalogs from VDH.
 
Mark IX fins seem to have made their début in the 1971 Voit Swimaster catalogue. Their last appearance may have been the 1977 version; I have no access to the 1978 catalogue and I can't see the fins in the 1979 catalogue. See for yourself in the VDH manual and catalog collection.

As for the beginning of the association between Voit and AMF (American Machine and Foundry), the 1958 catalogue (VR214L) in the VDH collection has "AMF" next to "Voit" in the heading, while the 1959 version makes no reference to AMF. The 1960 catalogue has the "AMF" logo. More digging may be required in company history sites to establish exact dating of the takeover. According to Jonathan Walford's blog, "In 1957, the company (Voit) was sold to AMF and in 1963 operations were moved to Santa Ana, California", but there is no independent source for this information. A 1987 LA Times article about Voit mentions "the company’s move from Los Angeles to Santa Ana, its 1957 sale to AMF Inc. of White Plains, N.Y." So 1957 seems to be the odds-on favourite at present.
 
I never understood the relationship between Voit and Swimmaster. It could have been as simple as Swimmaster contracting to Voit to manufacture their rubber parts, something like the cross pollinization between US Divers and Voit.

This is from Voit's 1964 catalog, which is the first appearance of Duck Feet in their catalog, but they were around long before that.

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They do have Swimmaster on the fin:

1659020223950.png

Duck Feet were the Jet Fins of the day when I started diving in 1962, at least is my sphere of visibility.
 
I never understood the relationship between Voit and Swimmaster. It could have been as simple as Swimmaster contracting to Voit to manufacture their rubber parts, something like the cross pollicization between US Divers and Voit..

This is from Voit's 1964 catalog, which is the first appearance of Duck Feet in their catalog, but they were around long before that.

View attachment 735469


They do have Swimmaster on the fin:


Duck Feet were the Jet Fins of the day when I started diving in 1962, at least is my sphere of visibility.
I have never used actual Duck Feet fins, but I did use a pair of Aqualung duck feet clones once. They were light blue and seemed to be a little fatter through the middle of the fin. I can’t remember the name of them. I had to use them with freediving fin socks. All I can say is they were, “different”…
They worked my foot, the fascia - the muscles and tendons that attach the heel to the ball of the foot. I wasn’t used to them and my feet cramped up.
But thrust was OK. Nothing Earth shattering but OK. Freediving fins work way better.
 
Mark IX fins seem to have made their début in the 1971 Voit Swimaster catalogue. Their last appearance may have been the 1977 version; I have no access to the 1978 catalogue and I can't see the fins in the 1979 catalogue. See for yourself in the VDH manual and catalog collection.

As for the beginning of the association between Voit and AMF (American Machine and Foundry), the 1958 catalogue (VR214L) in the VDH collection has "AMF" next to "Voit" in the heading, while the 1959 version makes no reference to AMF. The 1960 catalogue has the "AMF" logo. More digging may be required in company history sites to establish exact dating of the takeover. According to Jonathan Walford's blog, "In 1957, the company (Voit) was sold to AMF and in 1963 operations were moved to Santa Ana, California", but there is no independent source for this information. A 1987 LA Times article about Voit mentions "the company’s move from Los Angeles to Santa Ana, its 1957 sale to AMF Inc. of White Plains, N.Y." So 1957 seems to be the odds-on favourite at present.
Thanks for the information
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/perdix-ai/

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